Preplanning and Scheduling of Road Construction by Using PPM
Preplanning and Scheduling of Road Construction by Using PPM
Preplanning and Scheduling of Road Construction by Using PPM
T.Subramani , M.Sekar2
1Professor & Dean, Department of Civil Engineering, VMKV Engg. College, Vinayaka Missions University, Salem, India
2PG Student of Construction Engineering and Management, Department of Civil Engineering, VMKV Engg. College,
Vinayaka Missions University, Salem, India
ABSTRACT
The Preplanning Project Management module is comprehensive, multi-project planning and control software, built on Oracle
and Microsoft SQL Server relational databases for enterprise-wide project management scalability.The Project Management
module enables your organization to store and manage its projects in a central location. The module supports work breakdown
structures (WBS), organizational breakdown structures (OBS), user-defined fields and codes, critical-path-method (CPM)
scheduling, and resource leveling. Preplanning Project Management is required to Give complete Project Management
Solution, Internationally Reputed, Having Flexibility to Manage Multiple Projects in Centralized location, Provides facility to
Integrate ERP or Accounting System.Project schedule can be calculated one of two ways: when we choose the Scheduling
command or each time we make a change that affects schedule dates. The Critical Path Method (CPM) scheduling technique is
used to calculate project schedules. CPM uses activity durations and relationships between activities to calculate the project
schedule.
1.INTRODUCTION
Preplanning Project Management Systems Inc. provides project and program management software for the
Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry. Focused on project portfolio management, or PPM, Primavera's
solutions let users measure progress, assure governance, improve team collaboration and prioritize project investments
and resources. Primavera's software packages include P6, Prosight, Contract Manager, Cost Manager, Pertmaster,
SureTrak, Evolve and Inspire. The newest addition to the suite of project management solutions is Primavera P6, which
is an integrated PPM (project portfolio management) solution that provides a real-time view of portfolio performance.
P6 also offers what-if scenario modeling, tabular scorecards and capacity analysis. First of all we must know which
product of Primavera should be used. As there are many Primavera Products out there in the market, therefore, it is
utmost necessary for us to analyze our requirements before going for a specific product. In this article, we will be
talking about P6 PPM R8.1 which stands for Primavera 6 Professional Project Management Module R8.1. A review of
the different Primavera products can be found at Introduction to Primavera Products. State Departments of
Transportation utilize a variety of techniques for estimating contract time. The most popular are bar charts, CPM, and
spreadsheets. Some DOTs use simplified procedures for rapid determination of contract time for small or routine
projects. The most basic of these procedures uses a predetermined list of controlling operations for which durations are
estimated. The sum of the durations is then used as the contract time. The scheduler will then adjust the schedule based
on judgment and convert the contract time to working days, calendar days, or a completion date as appropriate using
some conversion factor. These benefits accrue to the contractors, owners, suppliers and workers in the form of
improvements in productivity, quality and resource utilization been applied to highway type construction projects by the
transportation departments in most states. The ability of CPM to these kinds of projects raises questions. Line of
Balance (LOB) and its variations are developed to search for a better solution for highway type projects, such as tunnel
construction, road, pipe line projects, and even utility projects. Some researchers declare that LOB software is ready for
commercial usage.
2.ROAD CONSTRUCTION
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places that has been paved or otherwise improved to allow
travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, bicycle, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one or two roadways,
each with one or more lanes and any associated sidewalks and road verges. Roads that are available for use by the
public may be referred to as public roads or as highways. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) defines a road as "a line of communication using a stabilized base other than rails or air strips
open to public traffic, primarily for the use of road motor vehicles running on their own wheels," which includes
"bridges, tunnels, supporting structures, junctions, crossings, interchanges, and toll roads, but not cycle paths.
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3.PROJECT MANAGEMENT
3.1 Preplanning Project Management
The Preplanning Project Management module is comprehensive, multi-project planning and control software, built on
Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server relational databases for enterprise-wide project management scalability. The Project
Management module enables your organization to store and manage its projects in a central location. The module
supports work breakdown structures (WBS), organizational breakdown structures (OBS), user-defined fields and codes,
critical-path-method (CPM) scheduling, and resource leveling.
3.2 Advantages Of Using Preplanning Project Management
Centralized Project Repository : With all projects are in a centralized database, the robust security module
protects project data and offers flexibility when determining who can access each project.
Enterprise Project Structure & Codes : A configurable Enterprise Project Structure (EPS) helps forms the
hierarchical structure of the projects based on your organizational needs. Extensible Project Codes help capture
different attributes of projects, such as the region where the project is being executed or the type of project
Cross-project Analysis and Reporting : Quickly and easily create cross-project dependencies and see how
projects impact one another. Built-in analysis shows whether resources are over- or under-allocated across projects
CPM Scheduling : P6 provides Critical Path Method (CPM) Scheduling, which uses the activity durations,
relationships between activities and calendars to calculate a schedule for the project. CPM identifies the critical
path of activities, those activities that affect the completion date for the project or an intermediate deadline, and if
delayed will delay the finish of the project.
Float Path Analysis : Float Path Analysis identifies all critical paths within a project to help avoid potential delays
before they occur and to help visualize an activity's importance to overall project plan.
Cross-Project Dependencies : Cross-project dependencies helps to monitor overall critical path of the program
and reduces the risk of multiple parties working together.
Resource Assignments : When project resources needs have been determined, they can easily be assigned to the
schedule activities. P6 tracks labor, material, equipment and expense needs for activities and WBS nodes.
ERP or Accounting Integration : The P6 architecture allows for integration with ERP or Accounting Systems so
that schedule and cost information can be shared.
Resource Leveling : Resource leveling helps ensure that sufficient resources are available to perform the activities
in the project plan.
Baseline Management : Store unlimited versions of the schedule, resources and cost assignments to compare how
the project is progressing vs. the original plan vs. the last update cycle, vs. 6 months ago, etc.
Projects Reports : Select from 150+ predefined reports and unlimited custom reports.
3.3 Techniques Used For Scheduling Projects
3.3.1 Cpm Critical Path Method
The method by which activity durations and the relationships between activities are used to mathematically calculate a
schedule for the entire project. CPM focuses attention on the critical path of activities that affect the completion date for
the project or an intermediate deadline. Early dates, the earliest possible dates each activity can start and finish, and
late dates, the latest possible dates each activity can start and finish without delaying the project finish or an
intermediate deadline (constraint) are also calculated.
3.3.2 PERT
The program evaluation and review technique (PERT) uses the same ideas as CPM; but instead of using just the most
likely time estimate, it uses a probabilistic estimate of time for completion of an activity.
3.4 Structuring Projects
1. Setting-up and define EPS (Enterprise Project Structure).
2. Add a project to the EPS hierarchy.
3. Defining WBS (Work breakdown structure) to the Project.
4. Defining OBS (Organisational breakdown structure)
5. Defining Resources.
6. Create Calendar for Activities & Resources.
7. Add activities to WBS.
8. Input activity details.
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9. Schedule project.
10. Updating progress after project starts.
11. Preview / Print reports (Default / Custom made reports).
3.5 EPS (Enterprise Project Structure)
Projects are arranged in a hierarchy called enterprise project structure. The EPS can be subdivided into as many
levels or nodes as needed to parallel work in the organization. Nodes at the highest or root level represent divisions
within the agency, next level nodes represent Zones, then Regional Offices, then Construction Supervisors, then
construction contracts; or they could be by other major groupings that reflect how or by whom projects are delegated
and tasked.
The EPS is made up of roots and nodes.
Each root in the project structure can be subdivided into many nodes.
Nodes represent different levels within the NYSDOT project structure.
For example Divisions, Zones, Regions, Area Construction Supervisors, Construction Contracts, etc.
All projects must be included in a node.
Each node can contain an unlimited number of projects.
Projects always represent the lowest level of the hierarchy.
Placement of a project in the hierarchy determines the summary level in which it is included.
3.5.1 Adding Project To EPS Hierarchy
We can organise unlimited number of Projects in EPS in groups.(Figure.3.1)
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An Activity Network is a graphical display of activities and their logical relationships according to the WBS. You can
use an Activity Network to view activity relationship paths and the flow of work through a project. Activity Networks
also allow you to examine and edit an activity and its predecessors and successors.
Activity Types
Start Milestone
Finish Milestone
Task Dependent
Resource Dependent
3.10 Resources
A resource is any quantifiable item in limited supply and of sufficient value to justify tracking and assigning to specific
activities for a project. Resources include general or specialized labor, non-labor items such as equipment, and material
items such as bricks. Resources perform roles, if defined. Resources are indirectly assigned to activities by first
planning the role required. It is also possible to directly assign resources to activities (Figure.3.5). For example, Chris,
a level 2 contractor with the confirmed skills and status, is directly assigned to activity 01. However, a technician level
4 role is assigned to activity 02. The project will proceed while management determines the best available resource to
fulfill this role.
A resource is anything used to complete an activity. Resources are divided into three categories:
3.10.1 Labor (people, crews)
Measured in units of time, Generally reused between activities/projects.Exception will be individual contractors
resources., Recorded in terms of days or hours (e.g. $50.00/hour)
3.10.2 Non labor (Equipment)
Measured in units of time, Recorded in terms of days or hours
3.10.3 Material (contract pay items)
Measured in units other than time, meters, square meters, etc.
Resource teams provide a convenient way for you to associate personnel into smaller, more meaningful groups within
an organization. Using resource teams increases efficiency in staffing activities, tracking allocation, and
communicating project progress and performance. When working with pages and tabs that display resource data, such
as the Resources Planning, Assignments, or Analysis pages, you can choose to organize by resource team. Choose to
view team data, such as total units for the team, or view individual unit values for each team member. For example, the
Resource Usage tab available from the Analysis page provides total allocation data for the team, as well as for each
team resource when the tab is grouped by Resource Team.
3.11 Role
Roles represent personnel job titles or skills needed to execute projects. Architect, general laborer, quality assurance
tester, and engineer are all examples of possible roles. Create a standard set of roles that assign to labor and non-labor
resources and activities for all projects in the organization. Establish an unlimited number of roles and organize them
in a hierarchy for easier management and assignment. The set of roles to an activity defines the activitys skill
requirements.(Figure.3.5)
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The risk register on the Risks page is the main area of the application where you identify and manage risks for a
project. Additionally, you can add risks to a project from the EPS page, and add risks to a project and assign the risks to
activities from the Activities page. Once you add a risk to the risk register, you can perform further analysis on the risk
and create one or more risk response plans which include activities to reduce the negative impact of the risk. Risk
Scoring shows the project risk scoring matrix. Includes threshold definitions grouped by type (Probability, Schedule,
Cost, User-defined, and Tolerance) and numeric and alphanumeric probability and impact diagrams (PIDs). Risk
Scoring (v2) shows project risk scoring matrix. Includes threshold definitions grouped by type (Tolerance Threshold,
Probability and Tolerance), PIDs for Risk Matrix, Risk Count and Risk Score and Total Risk Score.
3.14 Issues
Issues are perceived problems within a schedule that require attention or corrective action. When create them in the
Activities section, associate them with a single project or workgroup and assign them to a responsible manager in the
OBS for follow-up based on priority. Associate issues with a single activity. When adding new issues to a project or
workgroup, control the information capture for each new issue. Choose to receive e-mail notifications when new issues
of a certain priority are added, when existing issues are modified, or when issues are assigned a specific issue code.
Also think of issues as impediments, action items, open items, punch lists, logs, or concerns. Over time, if do not
resolve or close open issues or issues placed on hold, they can become risks. Issue codes enable you to organize and
categorize issues in a way that is meaningful to you. For example, create an issue code titled Severity, and subsequently
create issue code values: High, Medium, and Low. Assign each of these code values to issues across multiple projects,
enabling to categorize each issue according to how severe it is. Similarly, create codes to categorize issues by
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responsibility, subproject, or any other classification require to organize issues. Assigning issue codes enables to
quickly search for and view issues according to specific criteria. Figure.3.10 shows Project Issue Window. In each of
these areas, customize how issues are presented. For example, choose to view issues in either a list or chart format.
Also configure column, group, sort, and filter options to focus on issue data that is most important to you. Additionally,
you can add, revise, or delete issues from each of these areas. When adding new issues to a project or workgroup, the
issue forms feature enables to control the information capture for each new issue. If add issues from a detail window,
the issue is added as a line item and does not require the selection of an issue form. To help organize and manage
issues for project or workgroup, additional issue management features are available, depending on security privileges.
To organize issues, assign enterprise-level issue codes, which enable to categorize issues in a way that is meaningful.
The features for organizing and managing issues are accessible via the Enterprise Data option on the Administer menu.
Use the issues options in the Enterprise Data pane to add, edit, and delete issue codes and issue user-defined fields.
These options appear only if required privileges.
3.14.1 Issue Codes
Issue codes enable to organize and categorize issues in a way that is meaningful. For example, create an issue code
titled Severity, and subsequently create issue code values: High, Medium, and Low. Assign each of these code values to
issues across multiple projects, enabling to categorize each issue according to how severe it is. Similarly, create codes
to categorize issues by responsibility, subproject, or any other classification require to organize issues. Assigning issue
codes enables quickly search for and view issues according to specific criteria.
3.14.2 Issue Forms
Create an issue form to capture all the attributes your organization wants to track when users add issues to a project.
Each form helps maintain consistency when future issues are identified. Project members must select an issue form to
serve as a template when they want to create a new issue.
4. SCHEDULING
Critical path method (CPM) is a project planning and scheduling technique that defines the project activities, activity
duration, and relationships between activities. The schedule connects activities through relationships and calculates the
total time required to complete the project. Almost every industry uses CPM principles in schedule management.
4.1 Critical Path Method (CPM) Scheduling
CPM uses activity durations and relationships between activities to calculate schedule dates. This calculation is
done in two passes through the activities in a project.
The critical path is the path of activities through a project that determines the project duration and therefore, the
anticipated project completion date.
A delay in one activity delays other activities and the project as a whole.
Primavera allows users to calculate the critical path either total float or the longest path in the project. However,
NYSDOT requires the Contractor to schedule the project using the Longest Path and not Total Float when
determining the Critical Path.
4.1.1 Data Date
Data Date - the Data Date shall be the date the Project Scheduler last edits the schedule prior to submission to the
Engineer (generally the last working day of the contract payment period). The Project Scheduler can modify the
project s Data Date through the Schedule tool. The date used as the starting point for scheduling calculations. The
date used to schedule all future work. For the baseline progress schedule submittal, the data date shall be the contractor
award date. For monthly progress schedule submittal, the data date shall be consistent with the last working day of the
monthly contract payment period.
4.2 Scheduling Concepts
4.2.1 Forward Pass
Calculates an activitys early dates.
Early dates are the earliest times an activity can start and finish once its predecessors have been completed.
The calculation begins with the activities without predecessors.
Early Start + Duration - 1 = Early Finish
4.2.2 Backward Pass
Calculates an activitys late dates.
Late dates are the latest times an activity can start and finish without delaying the end date of the project. The late
dates are the NYSDOT contractual dates.
The calculation begins with the activities without successors.
Late Finish - Duration + 1 = Late Start
4.2.3 Total Float
The amount of time an activity can slip from its early start without delaying the project.
The difference between an activitys late dates and early dates.
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Start-to-finish (SF)
The successor activity finishes after start of the predecessor (for example, Activity B finishes after the start of Activity
A), the least commonly used relationship.
4.8 Relationships In Gantt Chart
A Gantt chart is a graphical representation of the duration and sequence of activities or projects. It is useful for
planning, scheduling, and monitoring progress against a timeline. Easily update dates and durations by resizing or
moving Gantt chart bars. When you change bar positions in a Gantt chart, the start and finish date columns update
automatically to reflect the new bar position. After moving a Gantt bar, when save changes, the remaining duration is
recalculated based on the new dates and the activity or project calendar. Because this calendar is applied when save, if
move but do not resize a Gantt bar, the duration might shorten or lengthen based on the calendar's non work
time.(Figure.4.1)
5. CONCLUSION
This study gives brief explanation for preplanning project management, Pre planning helps to schedulize the working
period in a proper manner and also purchase the goods at the right time. Advantages of using this software is
Centralized Project Repository With all projects are in a centralized database, the robust security module protects
project data and offers flexibility when determining who can access each project. CPM Scheduling provides Critical
Path Method (CPM) Scheduling, which uses the activity durations, relationships between activities and calendars to
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calculate a schedule for the project. CPM identifies the critical path of activities, those activities that affect the
completion date for the project or an intermediate deadline, and if delayed will delay the finish of the project.
REFERENCES
[1]. Subramani.T, Stephan Jabasingh.D.S, Jayalakshmi.J , Analysis Of Cost Controlling In Construction Industries By
Earned Value Method Using Primavera, International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications,
Volume. 4, Issue. 6 (Version 5), pp 145 -153, 2014.
[2]. Subramani.T, Lishitha.P.T, Kavitha.M, Time Overrun And Cost Effectiveness In The Construction Industry,
International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications, Volume. 4, Issue. 6 (Version 5), pp 111- 116,
2014.
[3]. Subramani.T, Kanthasamy.N, High End Solution For Advanced Civil Engineering Projects, International
Journal of Modern Engineering Research, Volume. 4, Issue. 6 (Version 3), pp 49-53, 2014.
[4]. Subramani.T, Sarkunam.A, Jayalakshmi.J Planning And Scheduling Of High Rise Building Using Primavera ,
International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications, Volume. 4, Issue. 6 (Version 5), pp 134 - 144,
2014.
[5]. Subramani.T, Sruthi.P.S, Kavitha.M , Causes Of Cost Overrun In Construction, IOSR Journal of Engineering,
Volume. 4, Issue. 6 (Version 3), pp 1 - 7, 2014. Bannet, J. and Grice, A., Procurement Systems for Building,
Quantity Surveying Techniques, New Directions, United Kingdom: (ed P.S Brandon), BSD Professional Books,
1990, Oxford.
[6]. Subramani.T , Lordsonmillar.R, Safety Management Analysis In Construction Industry, International Journal of
Engineering Research and Applications, Volume. 4, Issue. 6 (Version 5), pp 117- 120, 2014.
AUTHOR
Prof. Dr.T.Subramani Working as a Professor and Dean of Civil Engineering in VMKV
Engg. College, Vinayaka Missions University, Salem, Tamilnadu, India. Having more than
25 years of Teaching experience in Various Engineering Colleges. He is a Chartered Civil
Engineer and Approved Valuer for many banks. Chairman and Member in Board of
Studies of Civil Engineering branch. Question paper setter and Valuer for UG and PG
Courses of Civil Engineering in number of Universities. Life Fellow in Institution of
Engineers (India) and Institution of Valuers. Life member in number of Technical Societies
and Educational bodies. Guided more than 400 students in UG projects and 150 students in
PG projects. He is a reviewer for number of International Journals and published 102
International Journal Publications and presented more than 25 papers in International
Conferences.
M.Sekar, he received his B.E., degree in Civil Engineering from Government College of
Engineering, Salem. Now, he is working as a Lecturer in the department of Civil
Engineering in CSI Polytechnic, Salem. Currently, he is doing M.E degree in the branch of
Construction Engineering and Management in the division of Civil Enginering at
Vinayaga Mission Kirupananda Variyar Engineering college, Salem.
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